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What Lies Behind And What Lies Ahead

by Chris Simmons

As we come to the close of a new year, we often take time to both reflect on the past as well as consider what might lie ahead in the year to come. These are appropriate things for us to do but it is important that we do so with a biblical perspective.

What Lies Behind

Looking back should cause us first of all to stop and give thanks. James wrote that “every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Every good thing that we have enjoyed in the past came from God, and we owe Him our thanks for everything He’s done for us. Paul exhorts us to be “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Ephesians 5:20). More than just offering a blanket expression of thanks for everything, it’s important that we look back and be able to “count your many blessings, name them one by one” as we sometimes sing. And let us not simply focus on thanking God for the temporal blessings of life, but also for all of the spiritual blessings that are afforded us “in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). One of those spiritual blessings that Paul was most thankful for was the encouragement, support and strength he received from his brethren. I’m impressed how many times Paul expressed such thanksgiving in his epistles (Romans 1:8-10; I Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 1:15-16; Philippians 1:3-5; Colossians 1:4; I Thessalonians 1:2-3; II Thessalonians 1:3; II Timothy 1:3; Philemon 4). We have so much to be thankful for!

Don’t live in the past. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Do not say, ‘Why is it that the former days were better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.” We often like to talk about “the good old days” and how great life was back when. Many times we delude ourselves regarding how great we remember times gone by to be and we don’t want to let go. By inspiration Solomon reminds us that it’s “not from wisdom” to always long for “the former days.” We especially must not look back to what we used to enjoy when we once lived in sin apart from Christ. Paul said in Philippians 3:13 that he was continually “forgetting what lies behind” in regards to his former manner of life. We are not “fit for the kingdom of God” when we continue to look back to the “passing pleasures of sin” that we once engaged in (Luke 9:62; Hebrews 11:25; cf I Peter 4:2-3). When we live in the past, we become neglectful of the opportunities that present themselves to us each day (Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:15-16; cf John 4:35).

Learn from our mistakes. We can’t afford to keep making the same foolish and sinful decisions that we’ve made in the past. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 26:11, “like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.” If we’ve made a mess of some aspect in our life, why would we keeping doing (or failing to do) what got us into that situation? Someone once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same actions but expecting different results. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery, “… go your way. From now on sin no more” (John 8:11; cf I Corinthians 15:34). On the other hand, we can’t afford to continue to beat ourselves up over our past mistakes. If we have truly repented (II Corinthians 7:9-11), then we need to let go of our guilt, and the self-pity that so often accompanies it, and trust in the complete forgiveness that is afforded us in Christ. If God has forgiven us (cf Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14), then shouldn’t we forgive ourselves?

Remember where we were without Christ. We should never forget where we were before our obedience to the gospel and what it took for our sins to be forgiven. “Therefore remember … that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:11-14; cf I Peter 1:22). To forget is to jeopardize our “entrance into the eternal kingdom” and a future home in heaven (II Peter 1:9-11). Paul never forgot what he was and what he did before his obedience to the gospel (I Timothy 1:12-16; Acts 22:4; 26:9-11; I Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13; Philippians 3:6). Yet he never let his past haunt him but rather used it to motivate him to serve and labor ever more diligently for the Lord (cf I Corinthians 15:10).

Dealing with wrongs and injustices. Sometimes life isn’t fair and sometimes we are truly mistreated and wronged by others. What are we going to do when that happens? One of the problems in the church in Corinth is that brethren had “wronged” and “defrauded” other brethren (I Corinthians 6:1-8). The brethren who had been “wronged” were taking their brethren to court because of it. After Paul admonished them that there should be a fellow Christian with the wisdom to decide the matter (I Corinthians 6:5), he further rebuked them by adding, “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” (I Corinthians 6:7-8). Sometimes, we need to learn to let things go even if it means that it’s not fair. This is part of what is involved in what Jesus taught in Matthew 5:39-41 which many simply describe as “turning the other cheek.” Some people are never able to get past the wrongs and injustices that were done to them and they are consumed by them for the rest of their lives. We must never forget the example of Jesus who suffered for nothing He did wrong yet “while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (I Peter 2:23). Jesus dealt with the injustice He suffered by keeping His mind set on the things above (Colossians 3:1-2) and focusing on the joy that awaited Him when He returned to His Father (Hebrews 12:2). As we reflect on the past, let us not be consumed by those who have done wrong to us but by our love and devotion to Him who “loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

We can never change our past, but we can change what we do about our lives today. We will address “What Lies Ahead” in a future article.

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